After weeks of fan (and, I’ll admit it, some writer) discussion about which of Leonys Martín, John Lackey and Justin Wilson would be left off of the Cubs’ 2017 NLDS roster, the answer turned out to be none of the above. All three men made the roster, announced Friday, and instead it’s Héctor Rondón who’ll be sitting watching his teammates play, elbow (presumably) wrapped in ice.

There are still questions about the degree to which Wilson (command; people hitting the balls he threw towards them very hard) and Lackey (home runs) will be effective in relief, but the Cubs presumably decided that Rondón’s bum elbow was a danger zone they didn’t want to mess with in a series that could well be decided by just a few runs in just a few innings.

It’s still a bit of a dramatic moment for Rondón, who’s been a bullpen stalwart for the Cubs since debuting in April 2013 against Pittsburgh. No Cubs reliever has thrown more innings since Rondón’s 296 1/3 since then (Pedro Strop, at 271 2/3, is the only one who’s particularly close), and precious few relievers in the game have matched Rondón’s typical blend of power, command and pure stuff.

Some of that stuff was on display in Rondón’s late-September return to the mound, as he struck out two of the first three he faced in a dominant outing in Milwaukee on September 22, and then added 2 1/3 more scoreless innings through the end of the season. But with injuries in the rotation making John Lackey’s presence a near-necessity, the Cubs couldn’t afford to give more than one spot in the bullpen to a reliever with questions. Wilson, a lefty, got the spot.

This isn’t the end of the line for Rondón and the Cubs, of course — he’s not a free agent until after the end of the 2019 season, and it’s still perfectly possible that he’ll show up on a roster for the NLCS or the World Series, should the Cubs advance. For now, this is about the injury and not about any deeper concerns the Cubs have about his performance outside of it. That doesn’t mean that it’s not still surprising to look down the list and not see his name, though.

Wilson, meanwhile, is on the roster but far from a proven commodity. The Cubs need him to be the guy he was in the first half for Detroit, striking out 35 percent of batters, walking just one in 10, and posting a 2.68 ERA. So far with the Cubs, those numbers are 28 percent, 21 percent, and 5.09, respectively. That isn’t really acceptable, but the Cubs very much need a third lefty in the bullpen and Wilson has looked his sharpest lately, so here he is, making it. For what it’s worth, Daniel Murphy is 0-for-6 with three strikeouts against Wilson. We’ll see what kind of work he gets.

Lackey’s a bit of a “break-glass-in-case-of-emergency” guy, as you don’t really love the idea of throwing him out there in high-leverage innings with the game on the line — not when any swing could result in a long ball. But if either Jake Arrieta (hamstring) or Jon Lester (shoulder) need to exit a game early — which is not, you know, out of the question given the way starters have been beaten up early in games so far this postseason — you need him there to give you three-to-five solid innings.

And then there are the backup hitters: Martín, Albert Almora Jr. and Tommy La Stella. Only Almora played more than a single game in the postseason last year (La Stella only appeared in the first game of the DS in 2016 after appearing in both series in ‘15), and even he wasn’t a lock for this roster. But he’s been barrelling up balls with authority lately, and his presence — not to mention Martín’s — means the Cubs will be able to mix and match to their heart’s content.

Everyone else on the roster was kind of a lock. Sure, there might be gripers who’ll question Schwarber or Heyward’s inclusion on the roster, but there was never any (recent) doubt that they’d make it. They deserve to make it, and here they are. Justin Grimm, who made a few trips between Des Moines and Chicago this year, was never really in the conversation. Dillon Maple’s age and inexperience (and right-handed status) kept him off the roster. Nobody else in the bullpen really stepped up to claim a slot.

And so here they are, the 25 guys who’ll start the Cubs’ quest for a repeat. Every one of them has a role to play, and every one of them — like the team they play for, for the first time in at least a year — has a bit of a chip on their shoulder, and a feeling they have something to prove. It all starts tonight.

(Top photo: Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY Sports)

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